Archive for November 2nd, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
(From the Salad Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
This weekend was a “soup” weekend. The weather is changing and as Fall arrives I start to think about soups. Once I get into this mode I usually don’t stop until I either run out of room in the freezer or run out of containers to put the soup in. So on Saturday we had our choice of Chicken Noodle, Leek and Potato or French Onion soup. The chicken noddle is especially good to make and have in the freezer during this flu season. Nothing says neighborly like a container of chicken soup delivered to a neighbor who is down with the sniffles.
I needed a few things to put a large pot of vegetable soup simmering on the stove so off we went on Sunday to the market. Long story short we got what I needed for the soup and at the same time I picked up some beets and pears. I had this thought rolling around in my head, and yes I know this is strange, about putting roasted beets, pears and watercress together for a wonderfully attractive and deliciously light salad. The beets take awhile to roast so you have to think about this in advance but it was well worth the effort. The secret is to slice both the beets and the pears as thinly as you can, I use a cheap mandolin, but if you take your time, a very sharp knife will work just as well. Don’t tell the kids that the pretty “fruit” in the salad are beets and you just may slip this one by them.
Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Salad |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 2 | medium | beets |
| 1 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 1 | bunch | watercress |
| 2 | medium | pears, fresh |
| 0.5 | recipe | French vinaigrette dressing |
| 1 | Tb | honey |
Peel beets and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour, or until tender. Slice beets and pears as thinly as possible. Place on serving plate in an overlapping circle, alternating pears and beets. Add honey to vinaigrette and toss watercress in vinaigrette. Place on top of beets and pears. Drizzle any leftover dressing on top.
French Vinaigrette Dressing
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 2 | Tb | vinegar, red wine |
| 1 | Tb | mustard, dijon |
| 0.5 | cup | oil, olive |
| 1 | small | shallots, sliced |
| 0.75 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 1 | dash | pepper, fresh cracked |
Whisk vinegar,shallot and mustard together in a small glass bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
1 comment November 2, 2009
